The Beauty of the Beast
by SheyConYamo
Summary: Hank McCoy had always had mixed emotions about his true form. Despite his potential and his abilities he still had insecurities that he just couldn't drive away. He never really knew if he would truly accept himself. ... Until one eventful encounter.


**I do not own X-men, only the original character and story! Hope you like it!**

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Chapter 1

It was cold. Not uncommon for the near end of winter in upstate Pennsylvania. The locals were looking forward to the warmth of spring. So were the employees of the scientific facility Nautilus 05.

Sammy sighed as he pulled his jacket tighter and suppressed a shiver. "Why is it always cold when I'm on rotation up here?" he asked himself for the umpteenth time. He shook his head and took a sip of his coffee as he turned his attention back to the screen he was staring at. He was monitoring a satellite feed from one of Nautilus' orbitals.

He sighed again and leaned back in his chair, his eyes expertly glued to the screen. "Sometimes I wonder why I signed up for this project," he mumbled. He brushed his sandy-blond hair from his face and pushed his glasses up his nose. "I should really look into stations in Hawaii or Jamaica," he mused. "I think I'm more of a fair weather warrior." He crossed his arms and chewed on his lip. He blinked and shook his head from side to side, trying to keep himself from feeling sleepy. He huffed and made to lean his head back briefly, his eyes still trained on their target. He jolted suddenly and practically flew to the screen.

"What the!" Sammy watched as the experimental 'spectral' data readouts suddenly skyrocketed. "That! Really?! Holy cow! Um!" Sammy finally looked away and started searching for the phone, remembering it was to the far left of the computer. He lunged and dialed the number he knew by heart. When he heard the answer on the other end he didn't hesitate. "Ellen! Get in here now! The spectral readouts are going crazy! You need to see this!"

Only twenty minutes later, Ellen Rose was staring over her colleague's shoulder, looking at the now dramatically increased readouts.

Ellen pushed her glasses up her nose as she leaned further into the screen, her long brown ponytail falling from her shoulder. She examined the shooting numbers and the elevated graph data. She bit her lip as she watched the numbers fluctuate between the highest that had been prepared for and the infinity symbol. She looked at the location again. "Why would there be anything going on in fucking Alaska?" she asked lowly, more to herself.

Sammy looked at her and shrugged. "You tell me? You're the lead on this project," he said in a small voice.

Ellen looked at him and sighed. "I may be the lead, Sammy, but I'm not a locations expert."

Sammy looked at her with a put out look and looked back to the screen. "So… what now?" he asked, staring at the data ardently.

Ellen took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She looked at the screen and contemplated the issue. "Well…" she looked to Sammy, "it looks like there is really only one thing to do."

Sammy looked at her with wide eyes. "And that would be?"

Ellen stood straight and shrugged her shoulders. "We're going to have to contact the X-men."

XoXoX

Professor Xavior wheeled his chair down the expansive hall at an average pace. Jean Grey followed next to him silently. He could feel her amused curiosity. She knew him too well.

It wasn't too often that the government's clandestine organizations sought them out for anything. And in all honesty, he still wasn't entirely sure as to what they were doing or what they needed. He made a point to try to stay out of governmental officials heads, in the hope that honesty and trust would win out. He could, however, feel their reserve and hesitancy to come to them. He felt they didn't really want the X-men involved… but that they felt they had no choice but to involve them.

Xavior sighed. Jean's mental poking was starting to attract his attention. He glanced over to her without stopping his wheelchair. The redhead smirked. Despite his best efforts, he smiled in amusement. He looked forward again and made a left-hand turn down the hall. "I don't know anything Jean, I just know they are guarded about whatever they are going to tell us."

Jean snickered. "I find that hard to believe, Professor," she said with a smile in her voice.

Xavior chuckled. "We'll find out all we need to know as soon as we meet with them." He looked at his watch. "Which will be in approximately ten minutes," he said.

Jean smiled. "You think the others will be ready?"

Xavior chuckled again, but shook his head at the same time. "Aurora and Scott will be just fine, it's the other's I'm worried about."

Jean all out grinned. "But Professor, what about Beast?" she asked, knowing full well what the answer was.

Xavior gave her a look but humored her anyway. "Hank is very prudent… however, he's been spending a lot of time with Wolverine lately and I'm afraid its wearing off on him."

Jean smirked. "I think its more Logan has been spending more time with Hank."

"You might be right," Xavior stopped short of the wall concealing the elevator and reached up to push the button, "and instead of the hoped for side-effect of more stability for Logan, we've got more recklessness from Hank."

Jean grinned. "Well, I don't think Beast has ever been too straight cut, but I don't think its a bad thing that he's loosened up."

Xavior looked at her with a near grin as the elevator door opened. "You think he's getting stagnant?"

Jean's eyes widened and she raised her hands in surprise. "No! No, I didn't say that!"

Xavior smirked at her with a knowing look.

Jean bit her lip and looked off to the side. **"Well… he… spends so much time alone in his lab… it can't hurt for Logan to put a little jump in his step."** she said telepathically.

Xavior sighed and rolled into the elevator. **"Honestly… my sentiments exactly…"** he said back. He looked at her as she followed him in and the door closed. **"I just hope he isn't scrambling to be presentable,"** he said, amusement laced through his mental statement.

Jean snickered. **"Lets just keep hoping!"**

XoXoX

Beast rolled the mini basketball around in his hands as he regarded his target. He could feel Wolverine's smirk. He wasn't sure how, knowing that was an impossibility of the senses, but never-the-less. He glanced upward… or downward considering he was hanging upside down by one of the support beams in his lab. "What makes you think this is actually do-able?" he asked, staring at Logan with a suspicious eye.

Wolverine laughed outright. "Oh come on, blue boy! You're the scientist, you figure it out!"

Beast growled. He looked again at the mini basketball hoop, situated all the way on the other end of his lab, and regarded the random piping and equipment that was between him and the hoop. He looked back down to Logan. "You _really_ think I can make a combo-shot from an upside down position to the other end of the lab?" he asked incredulously. He really had no idea why he let Logan talk him into these things, but here he was again.

Wolverine sighed dramatically and slumped his shoulders. "Hank! _You_ are the mind person, _you_ are the thinker! If _I_ know it can be done, _you_ should be able to do it!" he said, looking at him with playful annoyance.

Hank stared at him. He looked at the hoop again. He sighed. He started moving the ball around in his fingers again and tried to imagine possible vector shots from him to the hoop. He chewed on the inside of his lip as he thought about the possibilities, each one ending with the ball bouncing precariously around on sensitive equipment then failing a fraction of the way through the shot and tumbling sadly to the ground. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to go at it again with Logan when a thought suddenly occurred to him. His eyes shot open and he pushed his glasses up his nose. He looked at a particular piece of plaiting situated over a particular pipe. His eyes widened minutely and he held back a smirk. Sure enough, that piece of plating was dented flat in one spot. He calculated the difference that would make in the ball's trajectory. He narrowed his eyes. _Logan, you sly dog!_ He kept back a grin and took a breath. "Alright, here I go then," he said in a feigned defeated tone. He lifted his arm, stretched it back, and ran through the motion of what would normally be an underhanded throw. He flicked his hand at just the right moment and watched as the ball soared for the dented plating.

It hit at just the right angle and bounced quickly to a top plate of one of the machines, hitting at another angle and shooting to a large pipe that was just above it and right in the ball's path. It hit the pipe and shot downward, hitting one of the electrical pips and bouncing up high, nearly hitting the one of the other pipes lining the ceiling, only to fall downward in a large arch and pass cleanly through the hoop.

"YES!" the two shouted together.

Wolverine fist-pumped the air and started laughing. "I _told_ you! I _told_ you, man!"

Beast grinned, his sharp teeth gleaming in the florescent lights of the lab. "Well, its easy to give the test when you know the answers, now isn't it!" he said, hopping off of the pipe he'd been hanging on and falling to the floor, flipping in midair to land on his feet with a thud.

Wolverine jogged over to the area where the ball had landed and picked it up, tossing it from one hand to the other. "Well, that's the point isn't it?" he asked with a smirk.

Beast laughed. "I suppose so! After all, if teachers didn't know the answers to the tests they wouldn't be teachers now would they?" he said with a smile, taking his glasses off to run over the lenses with his sleeve.

"Are you saying I taught you something?" Logan asked, strutting over to Beast with a self-satisfied look on his features.

Beast glanced at him with a raised brow. "Shut it, you."

Logan chuckled. "Get over it, blue boy! I got you on this one!"

Beast fake-glared and stuck his tongue out at him before putting his glasses back on. "Well, good luck getting me again," he said pulling his sleeve up to look at his watch. "Besides, we- SHIT!" He jolted and stared at his watch like it was displaying a horror film.

"WHAT?!" Logan jumped with him and looked form Beast to his watch.

"We have to be out front in five minutes!" Beast shouted, turning to the door. "Get your shit, come on!"

Logan tossed the ball at Beast's desk and ran after him, grabbing his X-men jacket from the stair railing as they raced to the door. "Why do we have to be out front?" he asked as they stormed through the door.

"Secret government thing- people showing up, remember! Xavior told us about it yesterday!" Beast slid to a stop for just a moment to make sure the security seal locked into place. Hearing the hydraulic hiss, he turned back and started sprinting.

"Wait! I can't run as fast as you!" Logan shouted, trying to get his jacket on as he ran.

"Well, you'd better try! We have less than four minutes to get to the front of the building and experience tells me it will go horribly if we aren't on time!" Beast shouted behind him.

XoXoX

Xavior suppressed a sigh.

Jean, Storm, Kitty, Scott, Angel, and Iceman were all there. Beast and Logan were MIA.

Storm glanced at the professor with a smirk. "I'm not surprised. Is anyone else?" There were resounding snickers from the others.

Xavior lifted his arm and looked at his watch. They had less than two minutes to get out to the front lawn with the rest of them. He lowered his hand and leaned back in his chair. "We'll see what happens won't we."

The others snickered.

They all stood in silence, listening to the breeze and the birds and watching the front drive ardently. Several seconds passed. They all mentally counted down to the thirty second mark.

The front doors were heard bursting open in the background.

Despite himself, Xavior couldn't help but hang his head. He could feel the barely contained amusement from the others. He lifted his head and suddenly had to fight back a grin. How those two had suddenly become the misbehaving students, he had no idea, but he had to admit, it was entertaining.

They all heard the running footsteps suddenly in the background getting closer. Every single one of them fought back a grin as they heard the frantic duo getting closer. Finally, Beast hit the line they were standing in and stopped on a dime, straitening up immediately, standing to his full foot taller than everyone else, clearing his throat and smoothing his wild hair and facial fur back, before pulling his lab coat straight and clasping his hands in front of him. Logan wasn't so controlled as he ran too extra steps and backed up into the line to bend over to lean his hands on his legs and huff and puff before standing straight and clearing his throat loudly, crossing his arms behind his back.

They all stood there in silence.

Kitty snorted.

The rest of the team burst out laughing and Xavior grinned as he leaned his forehead to his hand. Wolverine and Beast slumped immediately.

"What!" Logan half-shouted, "At least we aren't actually late this time!"

"This time!" Jean said with a grin, her giggle making it through into her voice.

Logan threw his arms up and Beast grumbled.

Xavior smiled and looked at the two before straightening up and looking down the drive. He cleared his throat. "Alright children, that's enough. Our guests are arriving," he said strictly, though his humor still clung to his voice.

The team immediately straightened up, their professionalism kicking in like an old habit.

They all watched as the two large, black SUVs made their way down the drive. Slowly and deliberately one pulled up several yards in front of them and the other pulled up just behind it. The doors opened and personnel started stepping out. What caught their attention immediately was a tall, well built woman stepping from the back passenger side and an older astute looking gentleman stepping out from the front passenger side. The two turned towards them and started up.

They stopped a few feet in front and nodded to the X-men.

Xavior nodded back. "Hello, Sir, I am Professor Charles Xavior. This-"

"With all due respect, we know who you are," the man cut in.

Xavior tilted his head slightly and regarded the man, quite aware of the sudden flare of annoyance from the woman. He smiled. "Well then, Sir, perhaps you'd care to explain who you are?" he said amiably.

"I am Leopold Knox of the Nautilus Corporation. I am here representing said entity while this entire meeting takes place." He turned slightly and gestured to the woman.

Before he could speak, she took a step forward and nodded her head curtly. "I am Ellen Rose, lead scientific representative of the special project S.E.D.- Spectral Energy Detection." She smiled at Xavior. "With all due respect, Sir, we have a lot to discuss on this subject."

Xavior smiled kindly back. "I understand Ms. Rose. Please, let us get to a more secured location." He completely ignored Mr. Knox as he gestured his arm out towards the mansion.

Ellen nodded to him and glanced at the other members of the X-men. She tried to hold her smile back from a grin, knowing that while this was almost a once in a lifetime chance, she was here to do her duty. She glanced down the right side of the line, her eyes grazing over Cyclops, Storm and…

She didn't even make it to Wolverine. Her eyes caught on piercing yellow irises. She stopped for a split second of time and got lost in the eyes of the X-man known as Beast. Scientist Hank McCoy, one of the most renowned minds of the 21st century.

Suddenly, he blinked. She did too and looked away quickly, taking a step to follow Xavior as he started leading them up the walkway to the mansion. She took as minute a breath as she could manage and suddenly realized she felt lightheaded and… tingly. _What the ever-loving hell?_ She mentally shook her head and took an unguarded deep breath. _Okay, enough of that. Time for work,_ she thought to herself, forcing herself away from the odd happening.

Beast looked at the woman as she started after Xavior and the others. He realized his face was slightly marred in surprise. He blinked again and shook his head lightly. As he took a step to follow he suddenly became aware of the fur on his back and arms standing slightly on end. It was hidden by his lab coat, but he could feel it none-the-less. He stopped in his tracks. He watched the woman walking and felt a strange sensation at the back of his mind. He recalled her eyes, brown with hints of golden hazel striped through them. He narrowed his own as he started walking.

_How… interesting…_ He looked back and simply watched as they all made their way along the path. _Is my mind… trying to tell me something?_ He looked down and shook his head again slightly. _Well, it isn't important right now. We have other things to focus on._

He looked back up and followed along as they neared the door, every member of the team eager to learn what was going on.

XxXxX


End file.
